But while the Netherlands and Norway are fighting over the technicalities, a senior government official in Germany confirmed they will impose a mandate for all new cars registered in the country to be emissions free by 2030.

The mandate will be part of Germany’s pledge to cut carbon dioxide output by 80% to 95% by 2050.

The Environment Ministry confirmed that the transport industry is lagging behind in its plan to reduce carbon emission across all sectors in the country and that its emission levels remain virtually unchanged since the 1990s.

Germany has a fleet of about 45 million vehicles including only about 150,000 hybrids and 25,000 all-electric vehicles. It’s important to note that the new mandate will be for new registration and that it takes about 20 years to replace a whole car fleet.

While the new incentives program will help increase sales in the short term, the mandate’s role is to encourage automakers to expand their zero-emission offering. It could mean another push for fuel cells, but based on what German automakers have been discussing lately, including VW’s planned battery factory and Daimler’s latest mobility plan, it looks like battery-powered vehicles are about to shine in Germany.